Woody: Here Is Who Should Be In The Hall

Darrell Waltrip could soon be joining his former owner, Junior Johnson, in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. (Photo by RacingOne/Getty Images)

Larry Woody | Senior Writer
RacinToday.com

The next batch of 25 nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame will be announced Thursday, from which a final five will be selected for next year’s induction.

Here’s my picks:

Anne France

Jim France

Lesa France

Brian France

Paris France

Only kidding. With two of this spring’s first five inductees named France I don’t think we’ll see any more of NASCAR’s First Family added to the Hall in the second round. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be there eventually. Anne France in particular, was at the side of husband Bill Sr. as a supporting force throughout NASCAR’s formative years.

But with Bill Sr. and Bill Jr. having joined three drivers – Junior Johnson, Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt – in the inaugural round, I doubt that other classes will be so administrative-heavy in the near future.

I predict that the next group will consist of five drivers:

David Pearson

Darrell Waltrip

Cale Yarborough

Bobby Allison

Ned Jarrett

Here’s my reasoning:

If David Pearson doesn’t get in this time, the Hall loses all credibility. Pearson is the second-winningest driver behind Petty, and in some circles The Silver Fox is considered the greatest of them all.

Darrell Waltrip for many years was a dominant driver on the track and the most influential voice off the track. DW continues to be the sport’s most visible and articulate spokesman.

Cale Yarborough was Dale Earnhardt before Dale Earnhardt. Iron-willed and tough as a truck-stop steak, Cale epitomized what the sport was all about.

Bobby Allison was a great racer and fierce competitor, a good man who endured bad times and whose personal sacrifices are unparalleled.

Ned Jarrett: A successful racer whose influence, like Waltrip’s extended well beyond the racetrack as a popular radio/TV announcer. “Gentleman Ned” won lots of races while winning the sport lots of fans.

I still believe, as I did from the start, that each class of inductees should be larger. At the rate of five a year it will be impossible to get a fraction of the deserving persons into the Hall in the next decade.

But whoever’s making the decision remains stuck on five, so I guess we’ll have to wait until next year to start campaigning for Miss Hurst Golden Shifter, Linda Vaughn.

Raymond Parks Jr should’ve been in there before Bill France Jr and Dale Earnhardt Sr. He should be in there this time around. Pearson, Ritchie Evans, Lee Petty, and Red Byron should be in there. But as this is more about popularity than historical significance and contributions to NASCAR, folks like Raymond Parks Jr, Red Byron, Red Vogt, Roy Hall, Lloyd Seay, and a host of others will probably never see the insides of the HOF.

No problem with any of your picks they are all deserving. My only problem with everyones list is they only include drivers. Maybe the Hall selections should have 5 drivers a Crew member and a team owner and a promoter for the first 10 years.

I can’t really disagree with any of your picks, except that I would hope the voters might give some extra consideration to older, worthy candidates, like Bud Moore, so they might be elected while alive.